Mother And Daughter Reunion
by Beesting25
Summary: I have no intention of stopping you, Yang. I'm not your doting mother, and I never have been. But I don't have to help you either. If' however, you have the backbone to demand something from this world, or from me, and you can back it up with strength, then by all means be my guest.


"I admit that you have tenacity in spades, Yang" Raven said, kneeling at the edge of the cliff, peering down. "But you really should consider giving up."

Yang grinned despite the sweat that dripped from her forehead. Every inch of her body was pressed against the vertical surface, and she tiptoed and scraped by a pathetic excuse for a foothold. The footing would've betrayed her long ago and made her plummet into the vast expanse underneath if not for the branch that sprouted out of the face of the cliffside.

Yang flicked a glance at what awaited her at the bottom. The wild river raged and churned across the valley, the violent waters crashing and thundering on their course downstream. Here and there, outcroppings of rocks framed the bank of the river. Their jagged, needle-shaped peaks did a remarkable job at persuading Yang not to push her luck.

A twang of wood brought Yang's attention back to the present.

What added a touch of elevated excitement to the situation was the fact that the branch she clung to was underdeveloped, prone to snapping under excess weight. Ever so infrequently it would let out a twang, making Yang's heart perform a tap dance up and down her throat. Managing her weight distribution was the key, and it also was a bloody difficult thing to do with only one arm.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the habit of giving up too easily."

"I figured as much."

"Though I would appreciate if you returned what belongs to me."

"Oh," Raven removed a golden-painted cybernetic attachment from her belt and put it on a display. "You mean this thing? I was under the impression you didn't need it."

When Yang looked down to estimate the distance of her hypothetical fall, she swallowed. "I sort of do. While you're at it, you should also consider hopping down and joining me. The view here is _drop dead_ gorgeous."

Raven seemed busy prizing the Atlas technology, "It doesn't have your name on it."

"Ha-ha. Nice joke. You're almost as good as me."

"I'm not sure whether that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult…"

"Yes, exactly. Now please pass me down my arm."

Raven allowed herself a smug smile. "Surely if you needed it that much, you wouldn't have concocted that hare-brained scheme of yours and shot it at me?"

Ignoring the sweat that poured over her, Yang's lips quirked upwards. "It was supposed to connect with your face. A healthy practice for mending the bones. Excellent for… bringing more variety to your facial expressions. Shame you dodged it. You could've saved a lot of money on plastic surgery."

"Ah," Raven said. "So that was your token of gratitude to me giving birth to you? A gesture to express all the unmissed love between us? After all these years?" Raven regarded the golden-hued prosthetic with newly discovered appreciation. "Why, now I have all the more reason to keep it."

The branch tilted downward another few inches, threatening to snap at a moment's notice. Yang's smile turned a hundred degrees of forced. "There's a concept called equivalent exchange."

Raven blinked, then nodded. "I cannot argue with that. Fine."

Yang released a breath. Her facial muscles ached, and she harbored a suspicion that if she had to roll another round of theatrics any time soon, she would be the one in need of plastic surgery. Though she never described herself as the praying type, just for that occasion she would make an exception. _Thank the Lord for benevolence and not stripping my mother of all her redeeming qualities. _

"When you climb up here, I'll give it back to you."

"You've got to be fucking –"

The branch completely snapped. Before Yang could mouth an "O", the gravity claimed her. Of what transpired next, she could remember only the blur of colors, the buffeting of wind, and the whirl of thoughts.

_River or the rocks?_ Somehow the choice made itself.

Agony exploded across her back as she plunged into the raging body of water. The current swallowed her whole, driving her deep beneath the surface.

_At least the luck is with me_, Yang reckoned with grim satisfaction as she attempted to paddle with her only remaining arm. Up, and up. Towards a lungful of air.

The back of her head hit something. Something sturdy. Something rocky. Yang let out a soundless cry, then her eyes widened in horror, but it was too late. She choked and thrashed. Her lungs burned, and her vision dimmed.

The raging river invited her. Down and down. Into the cold and darkness.

Yang felt a drifting ribbon of consciousness, transient and fickle. Then it crashed into her like a brick. With a jolt, Yang coughed up water. The dull pain reverberated through her skull as though somebody encased her brain with a metal bell and tapped on it – with a sledgehammer. The earth beneath her was dry if not a bit rough. Yang groaned and screwed her eyes open, squinting at the sunlight that slanted through the canopy.

_I'm alive._

Then Yang sensed it – a soothing coolness on the back of her head. Pleasant, comforting sensation. Her hand tentatively reached for the source of the soothing coolness, touched it. It was a block of ice wrapped in a tissue.

Yang rose on her elbows, tilting herself.

Raven sat cross-legged before the impromptu bonfire, feeding twigs to the flames. She seemed brooding, exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with physical activity as she watched tongues of flame sizzle and whirl their chaotic dance. Somehow Yang's awakening didn't draw her attention. Either that or she preferred not to address her. In a sense, it was a rare scene, and Yang couldn't bring herself to disturb the woman's moment of privacy. She had her own inner demons to wrestle with.

The waters lapped against the banks of the river nearby – that must have been the delta of the wild river. The forest around them thrummed with activity - birds tweeting, cicadas buzzing and leaves sighing in the wind. Yang groped the block of ice in the palm of her hand absentmindedly, frowning. She almost drowned. And for what? For a chance to save a bit of time in order to catch up with her sister? To prove her mother wrong, that she could withstand whatever the world might throw at her?

Yang's mind reeled. To die for a stupid bet? What would Weiss say about it? Worse, what would Ruby say? The mere thought twisted her insides into a vicious knot.

She shouldn't have exploded when Raven refused to create a portal to Qrow. She should've controlled her impulses. Followed Dad's advice. But the opportunity proved too tempting to resist:

_I have no intention of stopping you, Yang. I'm not your doting mother, and I never have been. But I don't have to help you either. If' however, you have the backbone to demand something from this world, or from me, and you can back it up with strength, then by all means be my guest. _

In the end, Yang couldn't just waltz into Raven's camp and act like nothing happened. She'd spent years searching for that person. It'd been her grand ambition. The entire chapter of her life story revolved around it, and she yearned to bring it to a definite closure.

Then she would be at peace. No more torturous guessing. No more unanswered questions. She would finally move on with her life. Be free like a bird in the wind.

"I believe this is yours. Catch."

Yang's musings had been cut short as Raven tossed her mechanical limb over the bonfire. Without skipping a beat, Yang reattached and flexed it. She'd missed it. "Thanks."

"Your enemies will not be so kind to you."

"I... I know."

"Good."

Yang felt shame pooling in the pit on her stomach. "And thanks for saving me."

"I would have preferred if I didn't have to save you at all."

"Would it have killed to say something nice, like 'you're welcome'?"

"Would you learn anything if I said it?"

Yang's eyes glinted, but she said nothing. Why did the woman have to be so stubborn? Why couldn't she accept the gratitude in a stride, like a normal person?

Raven flicked a glance at the tissue soaked with melted ice in Yang's hand. "How does your head feel?"

"Why do you care?"

Raven snorted and dropped the subject. Yang chewed on her lower lip. Talking to her mother seemed tantamount to conversing with a person from another universe. They spoke different languages. Scratch that, they were different species altogether. What added salt to the wound was the attitude. Raven made an impression as someone who considered herself as 'holier-than-you' and stared down at others from her high perch, as if pitying them for not knowing any better and patronizing them at the same time. As if she was privy to the world's greatest secret but refused to share it.

"Has your father ever told you how team STRQ has fallen apart?"

"Hmm?" Yang said. "No. He prefers not to talk about it, and I didn't have the heart to pressure him."

Raven nodded, her gaze locked on the licks of the flames, tracing the embers of something she'd long buried.

Yang said. "Why do you ask?"

"You and your sister take after Summer in many ways."

Yang folded her arms. "I fail to see how it's a bad thing."

"Indeed." Raven said.

Yang raised an eyebrow.

Raven sighed. "The discord in our team started soon after Ozpin initiated us into his secret war with Salem. We had... a disagreement of sorts as to how to proceed from that point." Raven shrugged and splayed her arm to the side in a nonchalant gesture. "As you might imagine, Summer and I did not exactly see eye to eye."

"I wonder why."

If the sarcasm in Yang's voice irked Raven, the woman did a spectacular job at hiding it. "Summer shared an idealistic outlook on life. If she deemed the case to be righteous, she would fight for it no matter the odds."

Yang hummed, wondering where she'd heard that line before.

"When Ozpin presented her with opportunity, she leaped at it. For her, it was a dream come true. The war against the ultimate evil. It was as if Salem was personally responsible for every misdeed that happened to humanity."

"And you?" Yang asked.

"I advised caution," Raven said. "I urged that our team should not involve ourselves in what was clearly a venture with the foregone conclusion. Ozpin might have had good intentions, but in the grand scheme of things, we would be nothing but fodder for him. I suggested we lead normal lives and hunt Grimm like normal huntsmen and huntresses." She paused. "Unfortunately, my argument fell on deaf ears."

"I harbored a suspicion that my brother would side against me. He was head over heels before Summer. Viewed her as a paragon of virtue, someone who gave meaning to his life" Raven said, then let out a dry chuckle. "The fool never mastered the courage to tell her about his feelings."

Yang's eyebrows rose skyward. _Uncle Qrow and Summer? Together? _"What about Dad?"

"What about him? Your father feared if he voiced his opinion, the team would get more divided than it already was." Raven said with a bitter undertone. "He nurtured a belief that things would get ironed out on their own."

Yang frowned. "Are you telling me this to convince me to abandon my little sister to the fate?"

Raven looked up, "Would you?"

"I'm not like you."

"No, you're not." Raven expelled a breath. "But that doesn't mean you can't try to reason your sister to leave Ozpin. There are plenty of righteous causes to fight for, every one of them with more chance of succeeding than waging a war against Salem. Pick the battle you can win."

Yang massaged her temples. She had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, that there was a logic behind the argument. "I'll talk to Ruby about it, but I'll not force her into anything."

"And if she refuses?"

"Then I'll stand by her. Like a family."

"Like a family…" Raven said as she lingered on the word, then shook her head. "That will suffice, I suppose. Do you still wish to continue our bout from where we'd left?

Yang heaved a breath. The words that followed didn't come easily, but the right words rarely did. "No. The victory is yours."

Throughout their fight, Yang formed a distinct impression that Raven was invincible. Every move had a purpose, a calculation behind it. Every motion had economical pragmatism. Nevertheless, once she went offensive there were no ifs. She would hit you, and she would hit you like a truck. She was relentless and unstoppable. She was a cold force of nature. Here was the opponent who combined the best aspects of Pyrrha's and Yang's fighting styles, and then brought it to the next level. Needless to say, it was one fucking scary combination.

Yang used to imagine beating the twelve colors of hell out of her mother. Now she realized how naïve she'd been. She couldn't land even a single punch on her.

And yet when Yang uttered those words, for a fleeting moment there was a chink in Raven's armor, her vulnerability laid bare. It had nothing to do with her fighting stance, and everything to do with her expression.

"Huh, you should do it more often."

"Do what?"

A self-satisfied smirk spread across Raven's lips. "Delegate decision-making to my chromosome. It'll always get you out of trouble."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "What's up with chromosome jokes? And what about Dad's chromosome?"

"It always gets you _into_ trouble. Believe me, I know."

"Your sense of humor is terrible," Yang said, and she could not suppress a genuine smile that flooded her features. "You're definitely my mom."

When Yang returned to the camp with Raven, she faced a not too happy Weiss. Say one thing about the heiress. Say that she does not like to spend time in a dubious company. Especially if that company was Vernal.

"Finally!" Weiss exclaimed when they entered the chief tent. "What took you so long! If I had to wait another minute in the presence of this ill-mannered, crass, vulgar, witless, absolutely intolerable piece of-"

Raven coughed. Weiss froze mid-speech.

"Vernal, you're dismissed."

Vernal nodded in silent acquiescence. Before she shuffled through the flaps, she sent Weiss a wide grin. "Throwing insults left and right, like a true bandit. We'll make a rogue princess out of you yet…" Then she ventured out.

Weiss paled in horror.

"For some reason I don't have the slightest inclination to know what this was all about," Raven said. "I'll leave you two to get ready. I need to issue some orders."

Once Raven stepped outside, the members of Team RWBY were the only ones remaining. The silence stretched on.

"Well?" Weiss said, tapping on her forearm.

"We travel to Haven the old-fashioned way."

Weiss nodded as if she expected the answer all along. She motioned to Yang to keep going.

Yang rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry. I should've listened to you. It wasn't the brightest of my ideas to challenge somebody who'd graduated from Beacon before I was born, even if that someone was my mother…"

"Who kidnapped me…"

"Who kidnapped you. And if not for my stubbornness, we would've been on our way to Haven, probably heeding to your advice and seeking an appointment with the Headmaster of Haven Academy first, who should know stuff. Are you happy now?"

"Quite."

Yang stuck out her tongue. Weiss reciprocated. Then they giggled and hugged.

"I was worried. You could've been seriously hurt. What were you thinking?"

Yang swallowed the rising bile in the throat. "Well, I'm still standing here."

Weiss disengaged and looked at her straight in the eye. "It never was about the portal for you, wasn't it?"

Yang dropped her gaze in shame. "N-no… It wasn't."

"Gush, you're such an idiot."

Then Weiss hugged her again. The warmth of the memories enveloped her. It felt good to be back together.

But that didn't mean Yang would let the prime opportunity to slip away.

"By the way," Yang cooed in the heiress's ear. "Did we interrupt you on something, _rogue princess_?"

Weiss pinched her in the side.

"Ouch…"

"Hush, you dolt."

With the engine revved up and fuel tank full, Yang leaned forward on Bumblebee's seat and gripped the handlebar; Weiss embraced her from behind for support. With the entrance to the bandit's camp on their backs, the stretch of wastelands unraveled in front of them – the landscape of alternating rolling meadows and hills, with the muddy road snaking across. The blanket of gray clouds draped the skyline, and the rising wind produced many shades of creaking and quivering sounds. Yang reckoned she'd traveled through the worse weather conditions.

"Ready?"

"Ready as you are."

"Try not to fall off."

"One can drive this thing, Xiao-Long."

"Only one of us has the license though."

"But we're in the middle of nowhere!"

"Contempt for the rules already? You start worrying me."

"You're insufferable…"

Yang glanced ahead. If they rode through the night, they would arrive at Haven by morning. Camping the night beneath the starry sky entailed the risk of being ambushed by Grimm, and as confident in their skills as Yang and Weiss were, they agreed that fighting the enemy in a blind was not an enticing prospect. It seemed prudent to err on the side of the caution.

"Glad that we're leaving this place," Weiss said. "Seriously, how can anyone willingly choose to live on a godforsaken patch of land like this?"

Yang snorted.

"It saddens me to hear that our customer service was not up to your standards."

Yang and Weiss swerved their necks and spotted Raven standing a few feet away with her hands on the hips. They hadn't even registered her arrival.

_She's a ninja too now!? As if combining Pyrrha's and my fighting style wasn't enough to deal with. _

"I thought you were busy giving orders?" Yang asked.

Raven smirked and splayed her arms to the side. "What, I can't say goodbye to the family?"

Yang and Weiss exchanged glances.

"Urgh…" Raven rolled her eyes. "Anyway, do I presume correctly that you're holding the course to Haven _despite_ my countless warnings?"

"Well, yeah. We need to catch up with Ruby."

Raven cast a flitting glance at the gray clouds and the rising wind and the quivering branches. Then she heaved a sigh – in the spirit of someone about to do something stupid – and rested her hand on the handle of the sword. In a fluid motion, she cleaved the air and created a trans-dimensional vacuum. "Then you might as well take a shortcut. This portal will lead you straight to my brother."

Yang almost did a double take. "But… I lost."

Raven shrugged. "You mentioned the concept of equivalent exchange. I don't like to stay in debt."

Weiss huffed. "Why couldn't you just do it from the beginning?"

"You seem to have a rather interesting assumption that your opinion is appreciated." Raven said.

Weiss wanted to lash out, Yang beat her to it. "Thanks, mom."

Raven dismissed her with a wave of the hand and turned her back to them. Yang rode Bumblebee past her and into the portal. Before they disappeared in the swirling purplish cataract, Yang sent the final look at her mother.

_I have no intention of stopping you, Yang. I'm not your doting mother, and I never have been. But I don't have to help you either. If' however, you have the backbone to demand something from this world, or from me, and you can back it up with strength, then by all means be my guest. _

Yang allowed herself a tiny smile. For a person who claimed not to care about her, Raven surely went out of her way to stop her from embarking on a dangerous path.

**Author's Note.**

**Gods... It's over. Finally! I've published my first story. This was a nightmare. I've been bleeding those 3000 words for almost a month. Over and over again, I thought I would go crazy. Many times I wanted to quit, to rationalize myself into abandoning it and trying something else. But I managed (somehow) to follow through and publish it. And I'm proud of it.**

**The main reason I wanted to write this is the reception of Raven's portrayal in the show and in general across the fandom after the events of RWBY Volume 5. Many people jumped on the bandwagon of bashing her, from innocent memes to Reddit posts to forums. Many accused her of being crappy mother, coward, etc. ****As you might've guessed, I don't quite agree with this view. In my opinion, the situation with Raven speaks more about the lack of ability on the writers' end than anything else. Why in twelve hells did they pursue 'Raven is a coward' route? She's the strongest character in the show after Salem and Ozpin! And to be schooled by Yang, who was trembling (allegedly) in her presence? That's an insult both to Yang and to Raven. **

**To Yang, because everyone can run mouth about what it means to be strong until shit hits the fan. At least if Yang got kicked around a bit but refused to give up, that would've delivered the message. As for Raven, the arguments that brought her to tears were nothing short of asinine.**

**Every character deserves to be treated as a complex, multi-dimensional being - shoutout to the Witcher series fans among you. **

**There is a trend among fanfic writers, both big and small, to poke fun at the holes in reasoning of certain RWBY characters ('cough'...Ozpin...'cough'). There's nothing wrong with it, but I believe the more challenging and rewarding path for both writers and their readers is to fill those holes, and do it in a convincing manner.**

**Again this is my first story. Please review. Thanks.**


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